Over the past week, the Ducks added five-star offensive tackle Kelvin Banks and four-star offensive lineman Cameron Williams. The two are just the latest of highly ranked offensive line recruits to chose Oregon over some of college football’s premier programs. With head coach Mario Cristobal’s experience and passion for the position, it is becoming quite apparent that Oregon is becoming an “it” school for the beefy and talented lineman.
Before Cristobal’s arrival to the U of O, it was long considered impossible for the Ducks to consistently recruit blue-chip linemen. With Eugene not in a recruiting hotbed such as Texas or Southern California, it was a challenge to bring the big and gifted bodies to the Northwest. For Oregon to be successful on offense the Ducks had come up with a scheme advantage, as it was during the Chip Kelly years.
But no more.
Of course, as Mr. FishDuck has recently been hammering away at the Duck’s lack of scoring under Cristobal, it would be nice to see Oregon with both the blue-chip offensive lineman and the scheme advantage. We pray this will be the year.
But for the moment, we can sit back and enjoy the Duck’s recent success at bringing in the high-end, big boys upfront. How long do you think this uptick in offensive line talent will last? Is Cristobal building a withstanding culture, or one that will just survive his time at Oregon?
Darren Perkins
Spokane, Washington
Top photo credit: Twitter
Darren Perkins is a sales professional and 1997 Oregon graduate. After finishing school, he escaped the rain and moved to sunny Southern California where he studied screenwriting for two years at UCLA. Darren grew up in Eugene and in 1980, at the tender age of five, he attended his first Oregon football game. His lasting memory from that experience was an enthusiastic Don Essig announcing to the crowd: “Reggie Ogburn, completes a pass to… Reggie Ogburn.” Captivated by such a thrilling play, Darren’s been hooked on Oregon football ever since. Currently living in Spokane, Darren enjoys flaunting his yellow and green superiority complex over friends and family in Cougar country.
